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Thursday, July 24, 2008

IT GADGETS, A CURSE AND A BLESSING

I first realized i might have a problem while doing my office work at home. I brought homeworks from the office and laid the documents on the table when i spotted my computer.

Soon, i was reading my emails, opening my dashboards for tasks from advertisers and checking for offline messages in my YM. Then i felt a pang: what's wrong with me? I'm supposed to finish my office tasks as i was earlier determined to finish them at home.

Most of the times, i meet with friends and sit on a table to wait for snacks. We each have cellfones-linked to the Internet. Other friends have a laptop. We talk while scanning the cellfones for emails, and those with laptop access their emails throught the internet or play online games. Our mobile phones are within easy reach, at any given moment we can watch tv on a restaurant tv screen.

I realized just now, that we are having information overload. We seem to digest all this stimulation easily, but wouldn't it be nice every so often to have a pleasant one-on-one conversation? Sure, it happens, (we're not robots, yet) but the more we've got used to keeping all this stuff turned on, the harder it gets to shut off any of it off.

living this way is a blessing and a curse. It offers a level of convenience unimaginable a decade ago. But, it also encourages some of us to indulge our weaker impulses. The impulse, for example, to seelk distraction over peace and quiet.